Internal combustion engines such as used in automobiles are typically of the reciprocating type in which a piston oscillating in a cylinder drives a crankshaft via a connecting rod. There are numerous disadvantages in conventional reciprocating engine design, which disadvantages in large stem from the reciprocating motion of the piston and connecting rod.
Many engine designs have been developed to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of conventional internal combustion engines of the reciprocating type. These developments include rotary engines, such the wellknown Wankel engine, and engines in which a cam or cams are used in place of at least the crankshaft and, in some cases, connecting rods as well.
Internal combustion engines of the type where a cam or cams replace the crankshaft are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,282 and Australian Patent Application No. 17897/76. However, while developments in this type of engine have allowed some of the disadvantages of conventional reciprocating-type engines to be overcome, engines using a cam or cams in place of a crankshaft have not been fully exploited.
It is also known to provide internal combustion engines having opposed, interconnected pistons. Such an arrangement is described in Australian Patent Application No. 36206/84. However, there is no suggestion in this disclosure, and like disclosures, that the concept of opposed interconnected pistons can be used in conjunction with anything other than a crankshaft.